OMRON HBF-514C vs HBF-516B Review

Whether you’re in training or under doctor’s orders, these Omron scales will help you keep on track. They measure BMI, body fat, weight, and more. Let’s look at them both to see which one is best for you.

OMRON HBF-514C Full-Body Sensor Body Composition Monitor & Scale

Sensors that measure using just your hands or only your feet will often show a variety of results throughout the day because water is always on the move inside you. That makes it hard to know how much body fat you actually have, especially if you don’t measure it at the same time each day. Omron solved the problem of inaccurate readings caused by movement of water through your body during the day. (They still recommend measuring first thing in the morning for best results.)

These two scales use bioelectrical impedance sensors at both your feet and hands. The sensors send a weak current under 0.5 milliamps through your body to see how much water is in your tissues. The current is so weak you won’t even feel it, but please don’t use these scales if you have a pacemaker!

The current reveals how much body fat you have because fat conducts less electricity. Blood, muscles, and bones conduct more electricity because they retain more water.

For example, if you wanted to figure out how much weight in fat you have, you would need to know your body fat percentage and your overall weight. If you weighed 300 pounds on an ordinary scale and we able to discover that you had 30 percent body fat, you would know that you had 90 pounds of fat. The HBF-514C quickly determines this for you, and will tell you even more about your body’s composition.

While sending the electrical current, the Omron scales measure your weight, too. They use the results of the impedance sensors and your weight, as well as your profile data (age, gender, and height) to calculate seven aspects of your body’s fitness. Besides body fat percentage and weight, you’ll learn your BMI (body mass index), how much skeletal muscle you have and how much visceral fat in your abdomen, what your resting metabolism is, and your body age (which may be different from your chronological age).

You can view all this data on the LCD screen, and page through it using the buttons. One neat feature that helps you to get excited about your progress is the ability to see your historic measurements from a week, a month, up to 90 days in the past.

Of course, there are certain health conditions that will affect the data that the Omron scale reads. Omron says that persons who are professional athletes, receiving dialysis, or suffering with a fever or osteoporosis will not get accurate readings. Neither will post-menopausal women, pregnant women, or growing children. This scale works for adults up to 6’ 6-3/4” tall weighing not more than 330 pounds.

The HBF-514C remembers four individual profiles and keeps the data up to 90 days. If you prefer that the scale remember the data for longer, see the HBF-514B below.

More features of the Omron HBF-514C scale

• Omron offers a 1-year limited warranty
• Comes with 4 AA batteries, a measurement log, and instruction manual

OMRON HBF-516B FULL-BODY SENSOR BODY COMPOSITION MONITOR & SCALE (BLACK) OMRON HBF-516B FULL-BODY S by OMRON

The only difference between the HBF-514C above and the HBF-514B here is their ability to remember data. This scale keeps the readings it takes for up to 6 months, or 180 days. If you are tracking data long-term, this may be a better choice for you. Please see the review above in order to read about all the features of these Omron products.

Like the other scale above, this one is suitable for adults up to 6’ 6-3/4” tall who don’t weigh more than 330 pounds. If you have a pacemaker or other implant, please don’t use it. It sends a weak electrical current through your whole body that can disrupt the function of a pacemaker.

More features of the Omron HBF-514B scale

• Omron offers a 1-year limited warranty
• Comes with 4 AA batteries, a measurement log, and instruction manual

Recommendation

The only difference between these two Omron scales is the length of time they retain data. Since there is no way to download the data to a computer or other device, you’ll have to choose based on how long you need to keep it (or else write it down).

The HBF-514C remembers data for 90 days. If three months is long enough for you, or you don’t mind keeping a written log, get this scale.

If you prefer to have your data stored for 6 months, get the BHF-514B.

Click here to purchase OMRON HBF-514C on Amazon!

Click here to purchase OMRON HBF-516B on Amazon!